Fighting Scots Head to Wittenberg for Tough Test

Kym Wenz

   The College of Wooster women’s basketball team faces a stiff challenge on Saturday, Dec. 9, when it visits Springfield, Ohio, for a North Coast Athletic Conference battle against rival and traditional NCAC power Wittenberg University (2-2, 1-0 NCAC). It will mark the Fighting Scots’ lone game of the week, while Wittenberg prepares for it with a trip to Thomas More College Wednesday night. Wittenberg and Wooster will square off in a 2 p.m. contest Saturday, with the Scots looking to avenge two losses to the Tigers during the 2005-06 season – 69-57 at Wooster and 59-46 at Wittenberg. The Tigers, who are the defending NCAC champions and winners of four of the last five conference crowns, are ahead 40-8 in the teams’ all-time series. The Scots last defeated Wittenberg during the 1996-97 season, a stretch of 20 games.

    Last Week: Wooster split a pair of home games last week, falling in non-conference action and then rebounding to earn a victory in its first league contest. Overall, the Scots are now 3-2.
    On Nov. 29, Wooster surged out to an 11-2 lead in the first four minutes of action only to watch visiting Case Western Reserve University come storming back, handing the Scots a 71-59 setback. Wooster opened the game with buckets by Maria Gonzalez (Millersburg, Ohio / West Holmes), Kym Wenz (Avon Lake, Ohio / Avon Lake), and Winnie Adrien (Selden, N.Y. / Blair Academy – N.J.) to help build a nine-point lead at the 16:04 mark, however, the Spartans answered with a 13-4 run to knot the game (15-15) halfway through the frame. Case went on to outscore the Scots 19-9 for the remainder of the period, taking a comfortable 34-24 lead into the break. The second half saw the Spartans in control, as the closest Wooster would get was within eight on an Angela Evans’ (Worthington, Ohio / Thomas Worthington) lay-up with 12:09 left. Case responded by extending its lead to as much as 17 with 4:42 remaining. Leading the Scots was Carly Loehrke (Kalamazoo, Mich. / Mattawan), who recorded 15 points, seven rebounds, and three assists. Wenz wound up with 12 markers in the scorebook and six boards, while Adrien and Gonzalez evenly divided another 16 points.
    On Dec. 2, Wooster escaped a scare from Earlham College, holding on for a narrow 56-54 win in a game that saw nine ties and seven lead changes. It was close throughout, but the Scots did have a burst late in the first half, closing the period on a 12-3 run to take a 32-23 lead into halftime. Earlham came out firing in the second, producing a 10-1 run to tie the game (33-33), and it was 44-44 midway through the stanza. The Quakers rattled off five of the next seven points to take a three-point advantage with 4:44 remaining, but a pair of foul shots and a jumper by Wenz put Wooster back in front (50-49) and the Scots would never trail again. Earlham did tie it at 54, but Adrien responded, driving the lane for a bucket with just under a minute to go for the final points. Beth Besancon Sidle (Wooster, Ohio / Smithville) keyed the Scots’ victory, scoring a team-high 15 points, including 3-of-6 shooting from 3-point range. Wenz was close behind with 13 points and six rebounds, while Loehrke rounded out the double-digit scorers, bucketing 10 points to go along with team-highs of eight boards and three blocked shots.